TV’s References to Religion Increase

An annual study sponsored by the Alexandria, Va.-based Media Research Center has found religious topics made their way into prime-time television 551 times in 1997, almost double the number of references in 1995 and about a fivefold increase since the organization began the study in 1993.

“The networks and advertisers are finding out that religion sells. And that’s what drives the networks,” said the Rev. Thomas E. Boomershine of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. “Basically, it’s just a working out of market forces.”

Researchers from the Parents Television Council, the Hollywood project of the Media Research Center, watched 1,800 hours of prime-time programming, nearly all of the original programming on the six broadcast networks. They evaluated every treatment of religion, from plot lines to isolated quips.

For the most part, this new prime-time religion portrays faith in a positive light, according to the Media Research Center study.

Overall, positive treatments of religion outnumbered negative treatments by 2 to 1.

CBS, with “Touched by an Angel” in the forefront, was the most faith-friendly network, according to the study. Sixty-five percent of the time its shows touched on religion, the portrayals were positive, while only 16% of the references to religion were negative. The rest were mixed or neutral references.

The study found no show to be outstandingly hostile to religion, and no network portrayed religion negatively as much as a third of the time it dealt with the topic.

Reflecting a new comfort level with religious topics, expressions of faith were found woven into the plots of dramas and sitcoms even where angels or clergy were not part of the character mix.

However, when television goes beyond general expressions of spirituality and into devout expressions of a particular faith, the negative stereotypes of ruler-wielding nuns and crazed fundamentalists return, the study found.